Delve

Chapter 195: Stealth

Richmond Rain Stroudwater

CLASS

LVL

CAP

+STAT

Engine of Change

EXP

NEXT

TOTAL

+SKILL

130,422

130,423

2,636,316

Vitals

CUR

MAX

RGN

Health

12,196

12,400

112.5/h

Stamina

5,118

5,720

112.5/h

Mana

107,750

663.0/s

Attributes

1,500/2,690

EFF

TOTAL

BASE

ACCLD

MISC

SYN

STR

520

500/530

20.6

(103%)

RCV

142

270

250/770

10.5

(53%)

END

157

286

250/500

19.8

(55%)

VGR

135

270

250/1,140

(50%)

FCS

270

250/2,000

(250%)

CLR

330

320

0/2,500

330

(100%)

PER

0/0

26.9

(134%)

SPD

9.4

0/11

9.4

(94%)

Resistances

TOTAL

END

ACCLD

MISC

HEAT

1,528.6

28.6

1,000

500

COLD

528.6

28.6

500

LIGHT

28.6

DARK

28.6

FORCE

578.6

28.6

200

350

ARCANE

5,028.6

28.6

5,000

CHEMICAL

403.6

28.6

375

MENTAL

28.6

31/31 Slots

Accolade

Bonus

10 [5x2]

Blackfoot Trench

+10 (+2x5)

All Attributes

4 [2x2]

The Icy Cellar

+1,000 (+500x2)

Health

4 [2x2]

Oh Gods!

Not Another Chem Lair!

+2,000 (+1,000x2)

Mana

The Lair of Embers

+1000

Heat Res

We Can’t Just Call It

‘The Lair’

+200

Force Res

Southshore Rat Warren

+1,000

Health

2 [2x1]

Badlands Cold Lair

3060 1 4

+6 (+3x2)

Endurance

2 [2x1]

Snow Sprite Lair

+10 (+5x2)

Endurance

Everdeep Fortress

+10

Perception

Slot

Item

Charge

Saturation

Durability

Head

Chest

Legs

Hands

Feet

Offhand

Myriad Plate

Bound

Durability

Hardness [12,047]

500 Heat Resistance

500 Cold Resistance

375 Chem Resistance

350 Force Resistance

5,000 Arcane Resistance

Lightness

Compression

Thermal Regulation [ON]

Tactile Transference [ON]

Facade [ON]

Obfuscation [ON]

Arcane Regeneration [OFF]

Kinetic Conversion

185,500 / 185,500

0 / 154,209

602,044 / 602,044

Ring[0]

Grand Malleable Ring

Bound, Unity

300/300 Attributes [˃]

500 / 500

0 / 4,270

903 / 903

Ring[1]

Grand Malleable Ring

Bound, Unity

300/300 Attributes [˃]

500 / 500

0 / 4,271

902 / 902

Ring[2]

Grand Malleable Ring

Bound, Unity

300/300 Attributes [˃]

500 / 500

0 / 4,269

908 / 908

Ring[3]

Grand Malleable Ring

Bound, Unity

300/300 Attributes [˃]

500 / 500

0 / 4,247

901 / 901

Ring[4]

Grand Malleable Ring

Bound, Unity

300/300 Attributes [˃]

500 / 500

0 / 4,271

911 / 911

Ring[5]

Aura Collector’s Ring

Bound, Unity

+1.12 Aura Synergy [ON]

500 / 500

0 / 4,272

813 / 813

Ring[6]

Aura Collector’s Ring

Bound, Unity

+1.12 Aura Synergy [ON]

500 / 500

0 / 4,278

814 / 814

Ring[7]

Aura Collector’s Ring

Bound, Unity

+1.12 Aura Synergy [ON]

500 / 500

0 / 4,273

816 / 816

Ring[8]

Aura Collector’s Ring

Bound, Unity

+1.12 Aura Synergy [ON]

500 / 500

0 / 4,274

813 / 813

Ring[9]

Aura Collector’s Ring

Bound, Unity

+1.12 Aura Synergy [ON]

500 / 500

0 / 4,271

814 / 814

Amulet

Magewell Amulet

Bound, Unity

Mana Well

100% Import Efficiency

100% Export Efficiency

50,000 / 50,000

0 / 39,211

313 / 313

Mainhand

None

Underwear

Forceweave

Mundane

Overwear

None

Skills

Aura Metamagic

Tier 0

Amplify Aura (15/15)

Multiply aura intensity by 250%

Multiply aura mana cost by 400%

Extend Aura (15/15)

Extend aura range by 15 meters

Multiply aura mana cost by 400%

Tier 1

Aura Focus (15/15)

Focus on an aura to boost its output

Multiply aura intensity by 400%

Multiply aura range by 400%

Multiply aura mana cost by 400%

User loses all external senses while focusing

Aura Synergy (20/15)

Increase all aura output by 2.0% for each rank in any aura

Effective boost: 450.0%

Tier 2

Aura IFF (15/15)

User may exempt entities from direct aura effects at will

Selected entities receive -50.0% aura output

Prismatic Intent (1/15) Exp: 17/400

User may maintain 2 auras simultaneously

Tier 3

Aura Compression (15/15)

Compress aura output, reducing range to boost intensity

Increase intensity by 3% per meter of compression

Defensive Auras

Tier 1

Arcane Ward (15/15)

Increase arcane resistance by 247.5% for all entities

Range: 82.5 meters

Cost: 1 mp/dmg mitigated

Chemical Ward (15/15)

Increase chemical resistance by 247.5% for all entities

Range: 82.5 meters

Cost: 1 mp/dmg mitigated

Mental Ward (15/15)

Increase mental resistance by 247.5% for all entities

Range: 82.5 meters

Cost: 1 mp/dmg mitigated

Tier 2

Force Ward (15/15)

Increase physical resistance by 247.5% for all entities

Range: 82.5 meters

Cost: 1 mp/dmg mitigated

Tier 3

Suppression (15/15)

Increase mana costs for all entities by 1938.75 mp (fcs)

Range: 82.5 meters

Cost: 15 mp/s

Magical Utility

Tier 0

Intrinsic Clarity (15/15)

Multiply base mana regeneration by 400%

Intrinsic Focus (15/15)

Multiply base mana by 400%

Tier 1

Channel Mastery (15/15)

Allows intuitive control of channeled skill intensity and tick rate

Minimum skill intensity: 0%

Maximum skill intensity: 200%

Maximum skill tick rate: 2.0s

Minimum skill tick rate: 0.0s

Skill mana cost modified by intensity adjustment

Skill intensity per tick modified proportional to tick rate

Mana Manipulation (15/15)

Allows internal control of mana

Allows expulsion of mana to environment

Allows transfer of mana to and from capacitive items with direct contact

Maximum transfer rate 9600.0 mp/s (fcs)

Tier 2

Magical Synergy (15/15)

Enables limited synergistic cross-coupling of magical attributes

37.5% of Focus contributes to mana regen

37.5% of Clarity contributes to mana

Offensive Auras

Tier 0

Immolate (15/15)

1357.12-1551.00 heat (fcs) damage per second to entities and environment

Sufficient damage causes ignition

Range: 82.5 meters

Cost: 75 mp/s

Refrigerate (15/15)

1357.12-1551.00 cold (fcs) damage per second to entities and environment

Sufficient damage causes slow

Range: 82.5 meters

Cost: 75 mp/s

Tier 1

Radiance (15/15)

1357.12-1551.00 light (fcs) damage per second to entities

Brightens environment (fcs)

Range: 82.5 meters

Cost: 75 mp/s

Shroud (15/15)

1357.12-1551.00 dark (fcs) damage per second to entities

Darkens environment (fcs)

Range: 82.5 meters

Cost: 75 mp/s

Tier 2

Fulmination (15/15)

1357.12-1551.00 arcane (fcs) damage per second to entities and environment

Sufficient damage causes paralysis

Range: 82.5 meters

Cost: 75 mp/s

Utility Auras

Tier 0

Purify (15/15)

Purify poison, corruption, and contamination

Range: 82.5 meters

Cost: 150 mp/min

Winter (15/15)

Boost M.Regen by 825% for all entities

Range: 82.5 meters

Cost: 15 mp/hr

Tier 1

Detection (15/15)

Sense selected items of interest

Not occluded by mundane materials

Resolution: 0.49 mm

Range: 82.5 meters

Cost: 15 mp/s

Essence Well (15/15)

Transfer mana to all entities within range, including user

Transfer Rate: 82.5 mp/s

Efficiency: 20%

Range: 82.5 meters

Velocity (15/15)

825.00% boost to speed for all entities

Range: 82.5 meters

Cost: 15 mp/s

Free Skill Points: 4

Progress Report

marker_1: t4_amm [3061 Seedlings 25 12:10]

marker_2: enduro4 [3061 Seedlings 28 23:15]

Span: 3.5 days

Character

Total Exp: 2,536,316 -> 2,636,316 (+100,000)

↳Mana Use: 100,000

Skills

Winter: +10,729 exp, 13 -> 15 (+2)

Mana Manipulation: +7,241 exp, 14 -> 15 (+1)

Prismatic Intent: +9 exp

Tolerance

Strength: 524 -> 530 (+6)

Endurance: 472 -> 500 (+28)

Synchronization

Recovery: 6.1 -> 10.5 (+4.4)

Endurance: 7.6 -> 19.8 (+12.2)

Vigor: 9.3 -> 10.0 (+0.7)

Clarity: 320.0 -> 330.0 (+10.0)

Rain stood silently in the center of the wall of blue windows, rocking slowly with the gentle motion of the ship beneath his feet. Despite it being the dead of night, the room he and Ameliah shared was brightly lit by no fewer than four light bulbs, set into fixtures high in the walls and wired into the electrical network that now ran through the entire vessel. Below him, where the journey core had once been, was the main generator, built from parts that had once belonged to Subtlety. The forgewagon didn’t need them anymore.

Tallheart’s solution to getting the heavy vehicle down the cliff had been straightforward: driving it over the edge at high speed. With all the enchantments on it, the vehicle’s frame had weathered the impact with the water quite well, but that hardly mattered. The plan had always been to cannibalize it for parts. It couldn’t go where they were going. The smelter was in Engineering now, just across the hall from where Rain stood, and the turbines were below, powering the twin Force Steel propellers that now adorned Temerity’s stern.

Rain smiled.

Tallheart is a legend.

The cervidian smith was resting now, and it was well earned. They would be leaving tomorrow through his efforts, weeks sooner than Rain had thought possible. The downside was that it meant preparation had become a bit rushed everywhere else.

His eyes returned to his progress report, and he sighed, waving the windows away. With all his skills besides Prismatic Intent maxed, he’d pivoted to work on his synchronizations. Endurance was first on the list, given where they were headed. There was a small Watch stronghold in Barstone, and several of the accolades in Ascension’s care belonged to them. There was no question that they’d be returning them. Rain would need to rely on his status as a Custodian to keep Temerity out of the DKE’s hands. Returning the accolades—two of which were currently boosting his Endurance—was a part of that. He’d have done so already if he wasn’t afraid of what Velika would do if she were to find out that he’d teleported off somewhere.

She has to know Glavin and Halgrave are here by now. The fact she hasn’t done anything is a good sign, but damn if her being so quiet isn’t making me nervous.

He glanced at his clock, the numbers steadily ticking forward toward the time he’d specified in his note. He didn’t want to know what she’d do if they were late. The last thing he needed was for the volatile ex-Citizen to be in a bad mood. They couldn’t even Message her to tell her they’d been held up. She wasn’t accepting calls, which was why they’d had to send her a physical note in the first place. Message connecting would be a dead giveaway she was around, so she’d clearly blocked it somehow. Whether that was deliberate, or simply through passive Mental resistance and the desire to hide, it made things damn inconvenient.

Filth, I am not looking forward to this.

Stifling another sigh, Rain removed his helmet, tossing it on his bed and running a hand through his flattened hair. He didn’t stop there, however, proceeding to remove his gauntlets, shifting his rings between his fingers to avoid depleting his vitals. His boots came next, and then, with some difficulty, the rest of his armor. Finally, he reached up to the neck of his Forceweave underlayer, stretching it wide and shimmying out like a snake. ‘Naked’ didn’t even begin to describe how he felt then, staring at himself in the tiny mirror mounted to one wall.

He moved quickly to the pile of clothing he’d laid out earlier, throwing on the plain workman’s clothes. His skin was sensitive after pushing his physical stats so hard, and the coarse fabric felt like sandpaper compared to the silky Forceweave. It didn’t help that the shirt was about two sizes too small. The flimsy clothing also did very little to help with the utter vulnerability he felt looking down at his armor on the bed.

Ameliah’s right. I’ve developed a complex.

As if summoned by his thoughts, the comforting presence of Ameliah’s soul washed over him. Rain smiled, then turned, walking barefoot to the door and pulling it open to see her standing there, one fist raised to knock.

“Woah—!” she said, taking a step back in startlement, then she blinked and grinned, looking him up and down. “Tight much?”

Rain laughed, tugging at the hem of his tunic. “Yes, it is very much tight, thank you. It’ll be fine with a cloak. Now, get in here before someone sees.”

Ameliah laughed and slipped inside, closing the door after her and propping her bow against the wall. A moment later, her armor vanished—not just the helmet, but all of it—leaving her standing in a layer of Forceweave not unlike his own. The quivers that had been at her hips fell to the ground with a rattle. It was Rain’s turn to grin, taking in the curves of her body through the clingy fabric. “Tight much?”

Ameliah stuck her tongue out at him, then tossed him a leather sack. “Here.”

“You got the rings back?” Rain asked, snagging it out of the air. It clinked as he caught it and reached for the string. His fingers felt clumsy without his gauntlets. Too small. His loose rings weren’t helping matters.

“Mmhmm,” Ameliah said, reaching for the neck of her forceweave. “I wouldn’t look in there if I were you. There might be a thumb or two.”

Rain laughed. “Green really didn’t want to give them up, did he? Too bad I couldn’t convince him to join us.” Abandoning his attempt to undo the string, he confirmed the sack’s contents with Detection, then tossed it toward the bed. Returning his attention to Ameliah, he watched with significant interest as she struggled her way free of her stretchy bodysuit. He didn’t bother to hide his smile as she turned to face him, planting her hands on her hips. Like him, she was still wearing her rings, slightly loose around her fingers. Unlike him, her amulet dangled not against a craggy plane, but in a lush, inviting valley...

“Well?” she asked, grinning.

Rain whistled, loud and long, trusting the Muffle runes on the walls to keep the sound contained to the room.

Ameliah rolled her eyes, still smiling at him. From the vague impression of her mood Rain got through his soul sense, he could tell she was feeling playful. “Pick up your jaw and tell me where my old clothes are, please? You can ogle all you want when we’re not on a schedule.”

“Over there,” Rain said, waving a hand vaguely but still not looking away. “In your trunk.”

Ameliah tilted her head. “My what?”

“Here,” Rain said, abandoning the game and leaning over the corner of the bed to retrieve a large lacquered cherrywood box with brass hinges. With his boosted stats, he had no trouble at all lifting the heavy object and placing it on the bed. “Trunk.”

Ameliah stared down at the box, still wearing a confused expression. “Since when do I have a trunk?”

Rain smiled, shifting closer to her. “Since yesterday. I asked Shena to make it a few weeks ago, and she finally finished it last night.”

There was a long pause before Ameliah spoke, and when she did, her voice was tight. “I’ve never had a trunk.”

Ah.

The feel of her soul had changed ever so slightly, shifting away from playfulness and toward...something complicated. He bit his lip, trying to identify it.

Damn it. It’s not clear like it is with Dozer. Well, clearISH like it is with Dozer. You’d think being the same species would make up for the lack of a proper link, but I guess not. Doesn’t really matter, though. I don’t need to feel it to know what she’s thinking. How long has it been since she’s had a place to call home? Has she ever, really?

Shaking herself, Ameliah reached out and ran her hands over the trunk before undoing the catch and throwing back the lid. “Thank you. This is really nice.” She tilted her head, then reached in and pulled out a paper-wrapped package from atop her neatly folded cloak. “What’s this?” She lifted the package to her nose and took a quick sniff.

Rain grinned. “You remember those cocoa beans we found in the jungle?”

Ameliah lifted the package again and took another whiff, breathing deeply this time. “Gods, you made chocolate?”

Rain laughed. “I did. Go on. Have a piece.”

Ameliah sighed, setting the package back down in the box and pulling out a pile of clothes instead. She tossed them haphazardly on the bed beside the trunk on top of his armor, then began getting dressed. “We don’t have time for that kind of thing right now. I want to enjoy it properly. You still owe me that day out, remember?” She paused, glancing back at the chocolate, then at him over her shoulder. “Actually, hang on, Captain Busy Busy. When did you have time? Didn’t you have more important things to be doing than trying to figure out the recipe?”

“I made time,” Rain replied easily, tugging on a large pair of gloves over his rings to hide them and to encourage them to stay on his fingers. “You’re important too.”

Ameliah chuckled and turned back around to resume dressing. “Cheesy.”

Rain grinned at her back. “I try.”

Ameliah exhaled deeply, poking her head through the collar of her white linen shirt. “Depths, the chocolate made everything in there smell amazing.” She turned to face him, brushing her hair out of her face with one hand. “How do I look?”

“As delicious as you smell,” Rain replied, receiving a punch to the upper arm for his trouble. “Hey!”

Ameliah laughed, then stepped forward and hugged him, resting her head on his shoulder. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome,” Rain said, squeezing tightly. They lingered there for a moment before they broke apart in mutual acknowledgment of the time. They really were running late.

They finished dressing in a rush, adding boots, Ascension cloaks, and in Ameliah’s case, her bow and quivers. Both of them tucked their amulets beneath their clothing, safely out of sight. Though he hated to do it, Rain released a quick pulse of Purify to banish the delicious odor from the room.

“Right,” Ameliah said, closing her trunk with a solid thunk. “Let’s go get her.”

Halgrave sat crosslegged at the bow of the metal ship, hunched in his armor beneath a borrowed cloak against the steady rain. The unenchanted fabric had long since soaked through, but it scarcely mattered. He’d slept through worse. If he’d wanted to be dry, he could have sought accommodation in the city like Glavin, or at least moved under the wooden platform at the ship’s stern. In truth, sleep was far from his thoughts this night. What he felt was a vague anxiety. He was running out of time to convince his daughter to leave.

These people...

‘Bizarre’ was an insufficient word to describe some of the things he had seen, just as ‘damp’ was inadequate to describe his current state.

On the surface, Ascension was just an overgrown Adventuring team, held together by common interest. He had seen its like before. Eight was usually as large as a group got, given the system limit on party size, but there was nothing in the Guild rules that prevented larger teams from being registered. Neither was there a rule prohibiting dull followers. Teams often hired such to carry the bags and tend to the horses. What they didn’t do was assign them positions of leadership, as Ascension had done with the Vanna woman, someone who’d previously made a living scraping muck out of sewer tunnels. They didn’t awaken them, squandering the chance for a powerful accolade in exchange for a fresh crop of weakling bronzes. It was insanity.

To him, to anyone that mattered, the difference between unawakened and bronze was immaterial. A few extra bronzes would not save Ascension when someone came to take what they had earned, not unless they somehow reached the scale of the Adamant Empire itself. Then, it could work, as the ship he sat upon was proof. That wasn’t going to happen, though. They might as well aim to build a fortress on the moon. They would never get there.

What is their endgame?

Halgrave frowned, considering again what would happen when the fools sailed this ship into the Barstone harbor. It would be taken from them. The talk was that Rain intended to rely on his status as Custodian to keep the DKE at bay, but that only meant the Watch would be the ones to end up in possession of the ship. There was no scenario in which Ascension got to keep it—or, for that matter, any of their other secrets.

Light without Light Crysts? A mechanical journey core large enough to move this vessel? A long-distance communication device that takes the place of a Mentalist? And all of it powered by artificial lightning?

Halgrave grunted.

He had demanded no answers thus far, not judging it to be worth the annoyance of getting them, but even his interest was beginning to move beyond idle curiosity. He’d been barred—politely—from going below deck, and Mahria had told him next to nothing, showing more loyalty to her new friends than to her own father. He could understand her devotion, given that they’d helped her to unlock her class, but such devotion was misplaced. Ascension had made her promises that it could not keep, and she, young and foolish, believed them.

She would learn.

This world was brutal. You could keep only what you could hold with your own two hands.

A flicker of movement caught Halgrave’s eye, and he tensed, reaching for the hammer that rested across his knees as a pair of white-cloaked and hooded figures emerged onto the deck. The hatch they’d exited was dimly lit from within by one of the Crystless lights, tinted red for some reason and not bright enough to make out details through the rain. Both were too tall to be his daughter, and the taller of them was significantly too broad as well.

With a sigh, Halgrave released his weapon. The pair passed into darkness, moving toward the starboard railing.

It was just a shift change, and not the first of the night. Ascension might not have the power to protect what they had taken, but they were not slouching about going through the motions. He could respect that. Here, it would even work for them. Not so in Barstone. They were not strong enough. Perhaps once he pulled his daughter out of the wreckage of this company of hers, then she would see.

Halgrave snorted.

Or perhaps not. She is stubborn. Like me.

“Whew,” Rain sighed in relief as his boots struck the wooden plank of the rowboat’s seat. His relief was not at being down from the mooring rope, which he’d descended with ease that his past gym-class self would have never believed. Instead, it was simply at being out of Halgrave’s line of sight. “Does that man never sleep?”

“You’re one to talk,” Ameliah whispered from above him, little more than a shadowy form in the darkness.

Rain smiled, the small boat rocking alarmingly as he negotiated his way into it. Vanna, sitting on the central bench and holding the oars, didn’t react to his arrival other than by leaning to compensate. She was humming to herself softly, seemingly completely unaware that she was no longer alone.

This spell is insane.

“Move so I can get in,” Ameliah whispered. Before Rain could figure out a way to comply, she spoke again. “Forget it.” Letting go of the rope, she took two easy steps through the air. The boat rocked again, the ocean lapping against its sides as she found purchase near the bow.

That works. Sitting to steady himself, Rain reached forward and placed a hand on Vanna’s shoulder, shaking her gently. “Vanna. Psst. It’s us.”

Vanna jerked back sharply in alarm, opening her mouth, but before she cried out, she blinked and stopped herself. “Rain? Gods, that spell is insane.”

Rain smiled. “Right? I was just thinking that.”

Vanna shook her head, shivering in a way that had nothing to do with the water soaking her cloak. “I remember you climbing down right in front of me. Hells, I watched you. You even almost flipped the boat over. It just didn’t seem...important. Gods, that’s disturbing.”

“Sorry,” Rain said. “There’s no way to exclude someone from the inverted effect other than by limiting the range. IFF controls who or what is being veiled, not whose mind’s getting played with.”

Vanna shuddered again. “Don’t like it.”

Rain grimaced in sympathy. “Yeah. Just remember to keep thinking about us. Otherwise, you’ll forget we’re here.”

“We?” Vanna blinked, still looking shaken. “Oh, yeah. Ameliah. Where’s...” She turned sharply, placing a hand over her heart.

Ameliah smiled and gave her a little wave. “Hi.”

Vanna sighed, lowering her hand. “Gods.”

“You did keep Halgrave out of it, right?” Ameliah asked Rain over Vanna’s shoulder.

“Yeah,” Rain replied, checking the goldplate’s position with the non-inverted effect of the spell as he untied the rowboat. Regular Detection was basically undetectable as far as he knew, but not so the inverted version. Halgrave would have noticed the influence on his mind, no question about it. At gold, he had both the resistances and the experience. Their disguises would have to be enough. Fortunately, it looked like they had been.

“Here we go,” Vanna whispered, seeming to have recovered. She began hauling at the oars, pointing the bow toward the shore. “The cloaks are under your benches.”

Rain nodded, retrieving a tightly-wrapped bundle from beneath his bench. He and Ameliah had debated making the crossing with Airwalk or by swimming but had decided that the boat was the best option. It was the least remarkable. Inverted Detection worked best when what was being hidden was something commonplace. People would be more inclined to pay attention if they spotted someone like Ameliah walking through the sky or two mysterious figures hauling themselves dripping from the sea.

As Vanna rowed, Rain occupied himself by looking inward, using Mana Manipulation to trace the pathways within himself as he kept the spell active. As usual, it was an incomprehensible mess, as it was whenever he was using metamagic. Needless to say, he made no progress toward untangling it by the time they reached shore.

After they tied up at the dock, all three got out to make their way up to the clinic. Just before they got there, though, Rain and Ameliah ducked aside into an alley, leaving Vanna to carry on alone. Safely out of sight, they changed their white Ascension cloaks for brown ones, shoving the white ones into a barrel that was waiting there for exactly that purpose. The bundles Vanna had prepared had contained a spare Ascension cloak as well, and it joined the others. That would be for Velika on the way back. From a distance, three people would have been seen rowing to shore, and three people would be seen rowing back.

Only once the barrel was closed did Rain release Detection, wanting to take the chance to refresh his mana. When he activated Winter, he almost gave himself away by yelping in surprise, but he managed to strangle the cry in his throat.

Holy—

Through his endless hours of practice, Rain had grown quite adept at determining a good cast from a bad one. Checking had become almost automatic. This cast wasn’t just his best one ever; it was near flawless. At least, it was as far as he could tell with the limits of Mana Manipulation. His view was just as fuzzy as ever, but with this much metamagic active, the mess should have been way more...messy.

“What is it?” Ameliah whispered.

Rain looked up at her, then blinked and closed his jaw. “Use Mana Sight on me,” he managed.

Ameliah arched an eyebrow, then it was her turn to look shocked. “Oh.”

Rain nodded numbly. “Uh-huh.” He let Winter fade, then cast it again. It wasn’t quite so perfect this time, but it was close. He looked down at his chest, at the damp shirt stretched tightly across it. The thin fabric offered no protection, but...

It wasn’t metal.

The amulet beneath it was, and so were the rings on his fingers. Those were the places the spell looked the worst. He carefully pressed with Mana Manipulation, finding that his dexterity with the spell, for lack of a better word, had likewise been improved.

He looked up at Ameliah, barely trusting himself to speak. “You know that feeling you get when you realize you’re an idiot?”

“But you tried using Prismatic Intent without your armor already,” Ameliah countered, sounding just as shocked as he felt.

Rain shook his head. “Yeah, but I was...”

“...in the ship,” Ameliah finished for him. “In the metal ship in our metal room, surrounded by metal. The only place you felt safe enough to take off your turtle shell.”

“Yeah,” Rain said, licking his lips. “I got as far away from the walls as I could, but...” He trailed off. Looking around, he decided it was worth the risk, then activated Force Ward, ready to drop it the moment he felt he was in danger of passing out.

“Careful,” Ameliah said, watching him closely. “Actually...huh. The soot’s not too bad, even with all that metamagic. Don’t push it, though. It’s starting to build up.”

“Right,” Rain said, dropping the second spell to focus on Winter. He’d already begun to feel it, the foggy weakness that would end with him staring up at the sky, imitating a birdbath. The onset had been slow, though, even compared to what would have happened if he’d been using both spells unmodified. “Depths.”

“Yeah,” Ameliah said, stepping forward. “This changes things.”

Rain nodded again, triggering an essence exchange and checking for any experience gained.

Progress Report

marker_1: enduro4 [3061 Seedlings 28 23:15]

marker_2: WHAT?! [3061 Seedlings 28 23:56]

Span: 41 minutes

He muttered a curse under his breath.

“What?” Ameliah asked.

“No experience,” Rain said, waving the panel away. “And no time to think about why. We need to hurry.”

“Right,” Ameliah said. “No distractions. Fill yourself back up, then let’s go.”

Rain nodded, running Winter as a singularity until he was back at full mana, then activating Detection and inverting it. The pattern formed quickly. It was no less devilishly complicated than when he’d inspected it on the boat, but it was significantly less tangled, hazy though his view was. Orderly, even. Realizing he was again distracted and in danger of losing his grip on the king-link, Rain clamped down on his emotions.

It would be just like Dozer to wake up and pop out to say hello at the worst possible moment.

He and Ameliah set off at a brisk walk, heading for the cliffside house they’d previously identified as Velika’s hideout. Despite his determination and the importance of their mission, Rain couldn’t entirely stop his thoughts from spinning.

I am such an idiot. Stupid, stupid, stupid...

Thus it came as a complete shock when, as he was turning the corner onto Velika’s street, he felt a ripple of wind behind him and a naked blade being laid across his throat.

Shit! I should have put something in the note about Detec—

The blade moved sharply, pressing hard against his skin. Cutting. Cutting deep.

dmgnum.sh version 0.5.0

Physical Damage Detected

Health: -9,770

Force Resist: 228.6

Original Damage: ~9,999 (capped)

“Rain!” Ameliah screamed as he stumbled, beginning to fall. He didn’t have the presence of mind to react, but his combat macros did it for him, dropping Detection and activating Force Ward in response to the damage. Just in time, too, as a moment later, the blade slashed again, slicing across the arm he’d raised to defend himself.

dmgnum.sh version 0.5.0

Physical Damage Detected

Mana: -1,136

Force Ward: 100%

Rate: 0.116271 mp/dmg

Force Resist: 228.6

Original Damage: ~9,999 (capped)

Rain managed not to fall, backpedaling and taking in not one, but two shadowy figures. The second was struggling with Ameliah—armored now—as the first stalked cautiously toward him, buckler raised to fend off any counterattack. With the weather and the darkness, he couldn’t make out much more than that, but it hardly mattered. It wasn’t Velika. She didn’t use a shield.

dmgnum.sh version 0.5.0

Physical Damage Detected

Health: -99

Force Resist: 228.6

Original Damage: 99 (Bleed?)

Bleedout in 23.5 s (?)

Still reeling, Rain tried to cry out, releasing only a bubbling gurgle.

dmgnum.sh version 0.5.0

Physical Damage Detected

Health: -99

Force Resist: 228.6

Original Damage: 99 (Bleed?)

Bleedout in 22.5 s (?)

Desperate, he reached for his rings and pulled every last point from Strength and dumped it into Focus, unsocketing one of his health-boosting accolades too. Overhealth rushed through him, but he didn’t have time to discover if he’d managed to stop the bleeding before an enormous flash of orange light lit the sky over the harbor, followed by a colossal boom.

Another second passed. No further damage dialog appeared.

Blinking against the glare and still scrambling away from his attacker with one hand raised to his bloody neck, Rain risked a glance over the cliff in time to see the second wave of Fireballs detonate against Temerity’s deck before the magic dissolved and was drawn into the metal. If how close he’d just come to death hadn’t been enough to make his saliva turn to ash in his mouth, the two ships he saw floating off Temerity’s stern surely did the trick. They gleamed like phantoms within the cloud of fog that now filled the harbor, purple from the reflected light from the magical barriers surrounding them.

The Empire was here.

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